The New Battlefield of Programmatic Advertising
In recent years, artificial intelligence has revolutionized everything. And programmatic advertising is not only no exception—it has a front-row seat to these changes.
Those of us who started in this industry working with tags and ad servers feel like our parents did when the internet first appeared: they grew up sending letters or making phone calls, and suddenly, everything changed. The changes we’re experiencing now are moving so fast that it’s hard to keep up, and it’s easy to lose sight of where we’re heading.
While the future is, by nature, a matter of interpretation, I believe that recently, a few pieces have started falling into place, allowing us to glimpse a new paradigm emerging in our industry. Below, I’ll try to connect the dots and provide a snapshot based on my own perspective and insights from people much smarter than me.
The Old SSP/DSP Structure Is Reaching Its End
The ad exchange—once the theoretical meeting point between SSPs and DSPs—is giving way to a new concept that will be at the center of this revolution: MCPs (Model Communication Protocols), the new language artificial intelligence uses to connect, negotiate, and collaborate.
What is an MCP?
According to the article “MCP Explained: The New Standard Connecting AI to Everything” by Edwin Lisowski, MCPs are protocols designed so AI agents can interact with data, APIs, services, marketplaces, and other agents in a structured, secure, and autonomous way.
Instead of building one-off integrations for each use case, MCPs act as a common layer of understanding between agents.
What does this mean for our industry?
It means that the SSPs and DSPs of the future will no longer be just software tools serving each side of the industry—but conversational agents that will develop strategies on the fly. Their limitations won’t stem from access to technology, but rather from the quality of the data they’re trained on and the sophistication of the models behind them.
This represents a radical shift from today’s fragmented logic, where servers have historically failed to efficiently transmit data between each other. This new model aims to eliminate those frustrating limitations and promises a world where, although barriers will still exist, they will lie elsewhere.
Imagine if MCPs were designed to make RTB communication perfect—regardless of protocol versions, enabling 100% successful cookie syncs, and ensuring that any signal sent in a request is received and interpreted. Many of these concepts will eventually disappear in an agent-driven future, but MCPs will pave the way for the next generation of SSPs and DSPs.
How Is the Advertising Ecosystem Being Reconfigured?
SSPs: From Dumb Pipes to Curator Agents
For years, SSPs were seen as mere intermediaries—»dumb pipes» transmitting impressions without adding value. But recently, pressured by DSPs going directly to publishers (as The Trade Desk did with OpenPath, for example), they’ve reinvented themselves through the now-trendy concept of curated inventory.
As Gareth Glaser, an old friend of the industry, puts it in his conversation with Rob Beeler and Scott Messer—Beeler.Tech – The Curation Spark in the Programmatic Forest (a must-watch for anyone in the space)—this shift has transformed how supply connects with demand.
The term «Curation», coined by Xandr (now part of Microsoft), brought SSPs back to relevance. At 152 Media, we’ve embraced this change as Microsoft curation partners, and we can attest to the potential of this new approach. At its core, it’s been a shift in focus.
SSPs realized they didn’t have to remain “dumb pipes.” Since they have access to the full open web inventory, they could start shaping the requests they sent to DSPs—understanding better than anyone what advertisers are looking for and where to find it. This is something DSPs have always done, but makes even more sense when approached from the supply side.
That’s how SSPs have slowly reaffirmed their value proposition.
The next step is for SSPs to become autonomous agents that:
- Know their inventory deeply.
- Identify which creatives and contexts perform best.
- Negotiate directly with demand.
- Leverage exclusive data or proprietary tech as a competitive edge.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see new SSPs striking direct deals with agencies—especially if they offer intelligence, segmentation, and performance. Ironically, they would be reversing the process that DSPs began not long ago.
DSPs: From Smart Pipes to Dumb Pipes… and Back to Smart Pipes?
For a long time, DSPs were the brains of the ecosystem: campaign optimization, real-time buying, attribution, and so on.
But in a world where curation is gaining momentum, their role as «smart pipes» is being challenged. More and more advertisers are willing to go back to including SSPs in their inventory sourcing, since SSPs can simplify buying via deals and PMPs.
DSPs are now starting to look like mere pipes connecting buyers and sellers.
Still, I don’t think they’re giving up the curation battle—and I don’t believe they should.
As we’ve said, the programmatic world is being reshaped. In this new battlefield, there will be a shared arena (MCPs) and two major players, each more focused than ever on their core roles: inventory-curating agents (on the publisher side) and agents representing advertisers and their goals (on the demand side).
Curation will be one piece of what the new SSPs offer, but the real power struggle will be between intelligent agents.
To reinvent themselves, DSPs will need to take on a far more strategic role: deeply understanding their agency and brand clients’ markets and acting as their representatives in negotiations with supply-side agents.
The New Exchanges: MCPs
Where will these new SSPs and DSPs meet? On platforms built under the MCP paradigm.
An MCP is not just a new form of technical integration. It’s a space for interaction between intelligent agents that represent different sides of the market: demand-side (agencies, DSPs, brands) and supply-side (SSPs, publishers, networks).
These agents don’t just execute instructions. They negotiate, adjust creatives, evaluate performance in real-time, and optimize decisions based on complex goals: efficiency, privacy regulations, context, and countless evolving KPIs.
An early example of this vision is Scope3, founded by AdTech godfather Brian O’Kelley. It positions itself as a new type of exchange based on intelligent agents interacting within an MCP framework.
MCPs will become the new meeting point—the new ad exchange—where intelligences intersect: the one that understands the user and their intent, and the one that understands the inventory and its potential. And in that intersection, as always, lies the true value.
This new model allows different players in the ecosystem to connect through shared rules, clear metrics, and open protocols. Instead of being a black box, it becomes a structured collaboration environment.
This opens the door to:
- More transparent transactions
- Goal-based optimization
- Fewer unnecessary intermediaries
- An interoperable agent ecosystem
The Opportunity for Publishers
In this new landscape, publishers will no longer be just media outlets. They’ll become data companies.
Especially outside the walled gardens, the editorial ecosystem is fragmented. But MCPs and curation agents present a concrete opportunity: multiple sites grouping under a single agent who understands their inventory, represents them, and negotiates autonomously on their behalf.
As we’ve seen, these new inventory curation agents will focus on empowering publishers to enhance their inventory. With a comprehensive view of users across the open web and the processing power of AI, they’ll be able to offer advertisers highly efficient audience targeting—while avoiding privacy and regulatory pitfalls.
This could even lead to a resurgence of undervalued Ad Networks, now reborn as specialized media curation companies that add value not only through reach but also through performance and insight.
What Are We Doing at 152 Media?
At 152 Media, we are already positioning ourselves for this new landscape:
✅ Helping our publishers structure their data to increase value in curated environments
✅ Exploring partnerships with emerging MCP platforms
✅ Designing tech solutions that allow us to act as agents on behalf of publishers
✅ Actively participating in discussions on how to redefine the media buying and selling ecosystem
The advertising of the future won’t just be programmatic.
It will be autonomous, negotiated between specialized AI agents that understand both the value of the inventory and the needs of the brands.
Want to talk about how your media business can adapt to this new model of agents and MCPs?
At 152 Media, we’re building that bridge.
Let the journey begin